This invention is directed to a pipe hanger capable of completely encircling a pipe to fixedly hold a pipe in the pipe hanger. Furthermore, the pipe hanger is capable of being attached to a support surface in a manner which retards removal of the pipe hanger from the support surface. Both the encircling and the hanging aspects of the pipe hanger are accomplished utilizing a single, elongated sharp object such as a nail or the like, which passes through a passageway within the pipe hanger to maintain the pipe hanger around the pipe and to maintain the pipe hanger in the support surface.
In the plumbing arts there are several common ways of supporting pipes from both vertical and horizontal surfaces. The standard of the industry for years was the use of what is called "plumber's tape." This is a soft steel strap having a plurality of holes spaced in a regular pattern along its length. Generally, these holes would be spaced within an inch or so of one another. To use, a section of the strap was cut off using a tin snips or other object capable of cutting through metal, and the strap was then nailed, screwed or otherwise fastened to the supporting structure. The use of such plumber's tape had several defects. Most of these were related to the fact that the plumber's tape is metallic and contacts a metallic pipe. Because of this, electrolysis between the pipe and the tape any any metallic support surface was always possible. Furthermore, corrosion at the point where the pipe attached to the tape could occur during the lifetime of the use of the pipe.
Within the last decade or so, with the widespread use of plastic pipe, many systems have come into being which utilize devices formed of plastic and the like for assisting in mounting pipes to both horizontal and vertical support surfaces, as well as attaching them to walls and the like, wherein the pipe passes through the wall. As representative examples of these newer methods of attaching pipes, U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,220 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,223 can be cited. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,220 patent is directed to a pipe holder which holds the pipe in a fixed relationship to a wall wherein the pipe passes through the wall. This device finds its greatest utility wherein a pipe is located in a wall and must pass through one or more of the studs supporting the wall. The other noted U.S. Pat., No. 3,684,223 is directed to a pipe clamp by which pipes can be supported against both vertical and horizontal surfaces. This clamp is very utilitarian in its nature; however, it requires the use of two nails to fasten it to a wall, and since both of these nails are driven straight into the wall, the possibility exists that the nails, under the weight of the pipe and its contents, could be pulled free of the wall.
The incorporation of new materials to plumbing supplies has caused a minor revolution within the plumbing industry as of late. Plastic pipe and the like are susceptible to being manufactured using mass production techniques, thus maintaining their relatively low cost. Unfortunately, labor costs have not kept the same pace as material costs. Quite to the contrary, labor costs in the plumbing industry continue to escalate. The majority of the ultimate cost to the consumer for any plumbing project lies in the labor costs in completing the construction of the plumbing, and not in the supplies themselves. It is therefore evident that if the costs of providing plumbing services are to be maintained on an economical scale, that anything which can reduce the labor costs would result in an ultimate savings to the consumer.
In view of the above, it is a broad object of this invention to provide a pipe hanger which, because of its construction and engineering, is extremely easily and efficiently used by the plumber, and thus can be mounted on a wall or the like in a minimum of time, resulting in labor savings in its use. It is a further object to provide such a pipe hanger which, because of its construction, is capable of a long service life with no maintainence, and thus provides a further savings because of these virtues. It is a further object to provide a pipe hanger which has no open areas and is capable of completely encircling a pipe such that the pipe is fixedly held in the hanger and would be maintained in its position once it is located there.
These and other objects, as will become evident from the remainder of this specification, are achieved in a pipe hanger capable of being attached to a support surface which comprises a body, said body having a wall, said wall formed as a loop surrounding an aperture, said wall including an interstice opening into said aperture, the portions of said wall located adjacent to said interstice forming a first wall end and a second wall end; said wall including at least one area of flexure such that said first and said second wall ends can be moved with respect to one another to increase and decrease the size of said interstice; said body including a foot joined to said wall; said body including a discontinuous passageway passing through said second wall end, said first wall end and said foot, said passageway capable of receiving an elongated essentially cylindrical fastening means of a greater length than the length of said passageway and when said fastening menas is located in said passageway a portion of said fastening means holding said first and said second wall ends in fixed association with one another, and a further portion of said fastening means extending from said passageway beyond said foot and into said support surface to hold said body fixedly fastened to said support surface when said body is located with said foot abutting against said support surface.
Preferredly, the first wall end will be located in association with the foot and the passageway will be oriented with respect to at least a portion of the foot such that when the fastening means is located in the passageway a portion of the fastening means will extend beyond the foot and will be located at an acute angle with respect to at least that portion of the foot.
Preferredly, the foot will be an essentially elongated, flat planar surface, having a pair of ends and a pair of elongated sides joining the ends. The first end wall will be located proximal to one of the ends. A plurality of ridges will extend traversely between the sides of the foot to provide a no-slip grip to the supporting surface.
Preferredly, the aperture is essentially circular in shape for use in supporting water pipes and the like. Other shapes, however, would be useful for supporting square, rectangular and other shape pipe.
Preferredly, the area of flexure will be a single area located distal from the interstice such that when the end walls of the hanger are separated from each other, the wall will pivot about the area of flexure to allow easy insertion of a pipe within the aperture.
In the preferred embodiment, a plurality of protrusions are located along the interior of the wall and project into the aperture. These plurality of protrusions are capable of contacting the outside surface of a pipe when the pipe is located within the aperture and face the pipe away from the wall of the pipe hanger. This results in both a reduction of noise and vibration propogation from the pipe to the pipe hanger and to the supporting surface.